


The Dragon Ranch

by DontMindMeDear (JustANerd)



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Age Swap, Almost everyone is a Dragon, Alternate Universe - Dragons, Boys Being Cute, Crushes, Dragon Breeders, Dragon Riders, Fear of Heights, Haikyuu!! Valentine Exchange, Hinata is a whirlwind of emotions, Kinda, M/M, More like White Day Exchange, mentions of angst, mute character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-15
Updated: 2018-03-15
Packaged: 2019-03-31 15:01:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13977570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustANerd/pseuds/DontMindMeDear
Summary: Out of all the different conditions a living being could be in, for Kenma, sleep has always been the most preferred one. There were no noise, no hustle, no unwanted attention or insistent questions, no disruptions, no overload of his senses, no obligations and, most importantly, no fear for his life. Or his sanity.However, as most enjoyable things in life, Kenma was forsaken the pleasure of holding onto this little peace of his forever.After all, it was one of his tasks to help settle in the new arrivals.And their newest member seemed to contain an exceptionally large amount of excessive energy.





	The Dragon Ranch

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thealmostviki](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thealmostviki/gifts).



> Hey Kudzai,
> 
> I know this was supposed to be up for Valentine's Day and I'm incredible sorry I didn't make it, but instead have this little thing for White's Day! 
> 
> Thank you for your patience! I hope you'll enjoy it!!

Out of all the different conditions a living being could be in, for Kenma, sleep has always been the most preferred one. There were no noise, no hustle, no unwanted attention or insistent questions, no disruptions, no overload of his senses, no obligations and, most importantly, no fear for his life. Or his sanity. If he wasn’t stuck in a nightmare that is, but those he could deal with as they weren’t real. Dealing with them was easy. Therefore, it was no surprise to anybody who knew him that he liked to go to sleep early and drag it out for as long as possible, diving into a world opposite of reality, with abilities impossible to acquire in the world he was stuck in. That he was a dragon was satisfyingly helpful in that regard as it was hard for his human caretakers to disturb him enough to wake him and keep him from going right back to sleep. Of course, as a dragon, his senses were more sensitive than those of humans, but even if Kenma was one of the more gentle-natured of his kind, waking him up in any form of irritation was nevertheless dangerous. He enjoyed that fact quite a lot and, although he usually preferred a less _obvious_ appearance at day, he had no shame to use its advantages to its fullest, much to their caretakers annoyance.

However, as most enjoyable things in life, Kenma was forsaken the pleasure of holding onto this little peace of his forever.

A disruption even his dragon attributes, his stubbornness, and his skill of ignoring nuisances couldn’t withstand had arrived a while ago under the cover of two shivering bundles needing their help, marking the end of his well-deserved sleep and the farm’s quiet mornings.

“...ma...sa…enma-sa..” A pressure lifted from and descended onto the top of his head, bobbing up and down, moving towards his forehead, transmitting Kenma the impression of being on sea. Which absolutely couldn’t be true. He couldn’t stand the sea. It made him feel sick. Why was he supposed to spent hours or even days on a boat that could easily be swallowed by the endless waves when he could just bridge the distance with his wings, much faster and far safer? Kenma huffed and shook his head roughly, tipping the weight on him and causing it to slide over his forehead. It brushed his closed eyes and landed between his nostrils with a high-pitched yelp that hurt Kenma’s sensitive ears. Reflexively, he fluttered his lashes and the slight notion filled him with instant regret.

Kenma groaned and tightly shut his eyes, trying to hold onto the sweet salvation of the encompassing, warmly embracing darkness and fighting to ignore the dots of light entering his reluctant consciousness after being blinded by the light reflected from silver scales. He had to tell their caretakers that the _brats_ had dug another hole into the ceiling of his den. The thought got lost in the haze of his still groggy mind as another weight, resting between the roots of his wings, wiggled around and scratched against his back scales, the sharp claws creating a sound not dissimilar to scraping metal.

“Kenma-san! Wake up!” The weight on his back lifted momentarily only to crash back onto it with doubled force. Kenma growled, but the little devil kept bobbing and whipping and pounding on him without the slightest concern to Kenma’s warning.

“Wake up, wake up, Kenma-san!” Another, this time definitely intentional push against his closed eyes and Kenma had enough, It was impossible to ignore the two pests when they were climbing over him as if he was a tree on their playgrounds, all the while screeching into his ear.

“Enough. Leave me alone,” he muttered, his voice still raspy from sleep, and heaved himself onto his four legs. Glancing through the small gap between his eyelids, Kenma watched the silver and dark green-yellow blurs tumble to the straw beneath him. Then he plopped back down on his side, careful not to crush the two fledgelings under him and tucked his head under his wing, safe from the sunlight intruding on his sensitive eyes.

“But Kenma-san,” the two blurs complained, their far smaller claws leaning against Kenma’s shoulder blades, “it’s already morning!”

“I told you to leave me alone.”

“But the sun is already up, Kenma-san! Night time is over!”

“Yep yep, it’s time to wake up now! Futa-san and Teru-san will arrive with the food soon!”

‘Futa-san’ and ‘Teru-san’, alias Futakuchi Kenji and Terushima Yuuji, the two trainees on the farm that were learning the basics of dragon breeding and relevant topics from the head breeder Iwaizumi Hajime and head guardian Oikawa Tooru. It was their job to look after the dragons in the morning and feed them as the older humans completed what task they usually performed so early in the morning. Kenma never cared to ask them as he couldn’t be bothered to get up that early anyway.

In the past it wasn’t until an hour or two after they had delivered his breakfast that Kenma would get up. Of course the two trainees had tried to wake Kenma up as well, else his meal might go to waste and leave Kenma in a bad mood, but without the advantage of claws and high-pitched baby squeals, it had been a much harder task to wake him up. After suffering  major delays in their breakfast delivery routine, Oikawa eventually advised them to leave Kenma as the last to receive his meal even if that meant they had to cross the whole underground cave system the dragons inhibited twice just to deliver Kenma his breakfast. But when faced with the choice of a longer walk or spending hours on learning how to wake a dragon without getting your hair burnt off, they chose the former. At least until the two silence-breakers had arrived and decided they would spend their nights in Kenma’s nest instead of in one of the other dens, closer to the older dragons nests than to the surface, together with the other fledgelings. Even Tetsurou hadn’t managed to wake Kenma before breakfast, but that might have had other reasons as well.

Speaking of Tetsurou, where was the other dragon?

Ignoring the two fledgelings that were once again climbing all over his back, chanting “Kenma-san”, Kenma glanced at the mess of straw at the opposite corner that was Tetsurou’s nest. It was empty.

He wrinkled the back of his snout when he pricked his ears but failed to recognize the individual sounds of Tetsurou’s body movements, the clipping of his claws on the ground, the shuffling of his tail through the soil, his wings brushing the cave walls. Admittedly, the resounding growling and yawing from the other slowly-awakening dragons in their cave system didn’t make the search for a clear distinction any easier. He changed the focus of his search from ‘dragon’ to ‘human’, but couldn’t differentiate more than two pairs of human feet, either.

Ignoring the green fledgeling with the yellow stripes tumbling down his middle as he failed to keep himself on Kenma’s back, Kenma raised his head and stared with half-lidded eyes on the silver fledgeling that was tentatively crawling closer to the edge where his companion had lost his footing. “Lev, where’s Kuro?”

Flinching at the sudden, unexpected address, the silver-scaled fledgeling also lost his footing and slid down the slope of Kenma’s side. Two yelps from different throats told Kenma that he must have fallen on top of his friend, but Kenma paid no mind to them. If they hurt themselves, then it was their own fault. Although, Kenma doubted that would happen. Those two devils were sturdy. The only misfortune their current misery brought to Kenma was that they wouldn’t be able to pay attention to his words or answer him when they were struggling to detangle themselves.

Already done with the day before it had really begun, Kenma sighed and rose to his feet to help unscramble the small bundles with too much energy. “Hold still,” he ordered them, but they didn’t even think of listening to the older dragon.

“Ow, Lev, you’re laying on my wing!”

“Kanji, stop clawing at my legs, that hurts!”

“Then stop kicking my belly!”

“Then you sto- _ahh_!”

“ _Eep_!”

The two fledgelings shrieked and _finally_ stopped squirming around when Kenma exhaled heavily, blowing a focused stream of hot air at their heads, freezing them to stone like they’d do under an actual attack of the easily inflammable gas residing within Kenma’s chest. Kenma made use of the opportunity to press his muzzle in-between the two small bodies and gingerly grabbed their tiny limbs with his teeth, separating them enough to free Kanji’s wings from Lev’s front claws, before picking Lev up by the loose skin folds between his shoulder blades and neck with his teeth, like a mother cat would pick up her kittens. Somewhen in the future, when he would grow to a size similar to Kenma’s, thorns would litter the upper edges of Lev’s neck and back. Only the folds that Kenma was holding onto now would be left empty. If he was lucky, or unlucky depending on who to ask, that was where his rider would sit one day.

Kenma putLev down a few feet away from Kanji, giving them both enough room to get back to their feet without colliding again. Once they’d recovered their balance, the mini-dragons nuzzled their heads against the underside of Kenma’s jaw, purring softly. He let them do as they pleased for a while, enjoying the relative calm, before pulling back. Finally in the centre of their attention, Kenma returned to his previous question..

“Lev, Kanji, where’s Kuro?” He asked again. This time he finally got an answer.

“Tooru-san was here earlier and woke him up,” Lev chirped, eyes sparkling as he sat on his hind legs and presented his chest like a proud cat, waiting for Kenma to praise him.

“Did Tooru say anything to you? Did he say what he wanted?”

It was Kanji who spoke up now, his tail sweeping over the ground and digging up the soil, showing his happiness with Lev being not the only one to earn a chance for praise. Kenma didn’t move his head as his eyes switched their focus to the new speaker.

“He didn’t say anything specific, but he said it was urgent; almost like an emergency!”

“Yeah, but it was no emergency-emergency, like those sudden ones, when there’s a fire somewhere and everyone is running away!”

“Yes, but it still seemed to be urgent, though, because Tetsurou-san was awake very fast and he usually needs almost as long as Kenma-san to wake up!”

“Uhu, but only almost. There’s nobody who loves sleep as much as Kenma-san!”

Kenma almost sighed again. However often he told them, they still kept calling him with ‘-san’, because “that’s what Tooru-san taught us”. At least he didn’t get dizzy as fast as humans did, but somewhere along their broken storytelling he still stopped following their exchange with his eyes and focused on the ground between them instead.

“Anything else you noticed?”

The two fledgelings stopped glaring at each other and simultaneously tilted their heads in thought.

“...Tooru-san wasn’t wearing his usual clothes. They were those of the … other ... people,” Kanji responded hesitantly, an almost fearful look in his eyes.

Kenma frowned and lowered his head enough so that Kanji could nuzzle his cheek in his need for comfort. While both of the younger dragons used to be scared of basically everything when they had first arrived at the farm, lately, there weren’t many things that could frighten them anymore. Or at least, not like the mention of those _other people_ did. The people from the black markets. The people that had taken them away from their families before they had even hatched.

“He was eyeing us a lot, too, and he didn’t speak as fast as he usually does. His voice was lower, too. He didn’t even play with us, and Tooru-san _always_ does,” Lev chimed in, joining them for his own share of cuddles. Kenma allowed them do as they pleased, softly mirroring their purrs, as he mulled over the given information. Although, there wasn’t much room for speculation. There was only one reason why Tooru would wake Tetsurou, in the clothes of the townspeople, under the cover of an urgent matter.

It seemed sleep wasn’t an option for him this morning anymore.

He could already hear Terushima and Futakuchi distributing the morning food rations, dietary supplements and prescribed medication for older dragons like Ikkei and Yasufumi. With the extra work that was bound to pile up for them later, there was a low chance that they would have the time to feed the fledgelings first and come back with his ration later.

But Kenma didn’t mind. If things progressed as he assumed they would, then he, too, would be very busy today.

After all, it was one of his tasks to help settle in the new arrivals.

 

* * *

  


“What kind of dragon will it be this time, what do you think?”

“Hmm, well, Hajime’s still here, and as far as I know it’s only Tetsurou who went with Tooru today. Although, I didn’t really check the other caves, so who knows? You think they took Koutarou with them, too?”

“Probably. He’s Tetsurou’s rider. Or whatever their relationship is. Makes sense for him to be there.”

“I bet Koutarou would love to be the ridden one instead.” Their musings were put on hold as they were too busy sniggering over the dirty remark. Kenma ignored it. They would sober up sooner if nobody was indulging them in their nonsense. Not like he was paying attention to them, anyway. “If it’s only the three of them, then it shouldn’t be anything that difficult to manage. One dragon at most.”

“One ‘grown up’ dragon, you mean. Tooru still prefers to take Kenma with him for cases involving fledgelings.”

“True.”

Kenma felt their dirty looks on him, but he didn’t bother to look up from where he was crouching on the ground, drawing circles and cats and stars in the dirt with a twig. They were right anyway. What bothered him much more was the lingering, faint tingling of his skin that accompanied the switch from his natural dragon form to the fake human appearance. The shift and the tingling, as well as the scratchy clothes and the limitations to move, were all disadvantages to this form, but all of them were outweighed by the smaller space the human figure required, as well as the lower danger level he would hold in the eyes of another dragon. Fledgelings aside, a grown up dragon would see a ‘human’ with no weapons or utensils as less of a threat than a mostly-grown up dragon.

Until the smell from the cave entrance was hitting them, at least.

Kenma shrugged his shoulders, trying to pacify the itch on his shoulder blades with the fabriques of his hoodie, when suddenly a couple of long arms were slung around them, one from each side. Kenma grimaced as he braced himself against toppling over. He had made the mistake of being too caught up in his own thoughts and forgot to be wary of the other two dragons who were also in their human form right now. He knew better than that. And yet…

“So, Kenma, what do you think?” The light brown, almost pink-haired male to his left drawled.

“You think the newcomer will be a special case like the twins?” The dark-haired male with the thick eyebrows to his right added.

Kenma sighed wearily. He dimly wondered why it seemed that everyone loved to bother him that much. “You already said everything, why do you need my opinion on this?”

“Come on, Kenma. Aren’t you the tiniest bit curious?”

“Not really. As long as they aren’t annoying, I don’t really care.”

Issei snickered and Kenma could practically feel the dirty smirk plastered on Takahiro’s face.

“You’re a liar. There’s no way you aren’t curious.”

“Who knows. He might even join your den,” Issei put in with a suggestive wiggle of his caterpillar-eyebrows. Kenma scrunched his nose.

“Please not. It’s already too full as is with Lev and Kanji taking up space.” The twins might still be small, but they were growing every day. They weren’t the most quiescent sleepers, either, always kicking or snoring or whimpering as they were consumed by vivid dreams. Kenma often wondered how someone could have so much energy that even asleep they were constantly moving around or simply being _noisy_. At least, he didn’t have to babysit the two fledgelings during the day. Usually, they would spent the day caught up in trouble while exploring the forested hills that belonged to the farm and encased the mountains where the well-hidden back-entrance to their underground cave system was located. But since today was special, and nobody wanted them to scare a nervous, newly-arrived dragon or get into trouble as everyone was busy, Futakuchi and Terushima had brought them to the elderly dragons who preferred to stay away from the daily ruckus of the farm.

 _Maybe they’ll learn a thing or two about manners that way_ , Kenma thought, although he didn’t put much hope into it.

The duo holding him in their grip chuckled at his commentary.

“That’s the unfortunate fate of being the farm mom. My heartfelt apologies.”

Kenma frowned at that and did a half-hearted attempt at breaking free of the duo, but the taller guys didn’t seem to be satisfied with bothering him, yet. “I’m not the farm mom. I didn’t even adopt them. They just like to bother me. A lot. Just like you two.” 

“That’s true,” Takahiro suddenly spoke up, rubbing his chin with his pointer and thumb, a habit that he must have learnt from watching the townspeople during one of their supply runs with Oikawa or Iwaizumi. There was a mischievous glint in his eyes that told Kenma he wasn’t referring to the last part of what he had said. Issei straightened noticeably, ready to jump head first into whatever idea had popped up in the raspberry blonde’s mind. “If we speak about farm moms, then there can only be one.”

The duo exchanged a set of equally dirty, evil grins.

“The mom-est of all farm moms,” Takahiro began and Issei followed up far too readily for Kenma’s taste.

“The mother goal of all mothers.”

“The only farm mom who isn’t just a single mother of triplings, but even manages his full-time job, without a minicular mistake.”

“The fairest of the fair, the strongest of the strong, the kindest of the kind. The only one to combine them all, under the rule of equal respect.”

“Where chaos, tears and screams of desperation ruled, the farm mom brings order, smiles and laughter.”

The duo came up with more and more lines, each more ridiculous than the other. Kenma didn’t even bother to listen to them and kept a low profile, his gaze concentrated on the farm gates, as he waited for his cue.

Fortunately, he didn’t have to wait long.

“When the farm dad tears his hour-long styled, definitely not naturally wavy, hair out in frustration, the farm mom descends with an angel choir and brings peace to the pained lands.”

“Where the farm mom steps, dirt becomes fertile soil, flowers bloom, trees grow, fruits can be harvested, and animals settle down in peace.”

“When the farm mom touches the broken they’re fixed again, when he touches the sick they’re healthy again, when he touches those forlorn and lost in their own minds they-”

As expected, the double terror got so caught up in their rambling that they didn’t even seem to notice that their hold on Kenma slackened as they raised back to their feet. Finally escaping their clutches, the muscles in his face relaxed.

Kenma hurried several steps away from the duo to hide behind the large oak tree framing the cave entrance and kneeled amidst the colourful autumn leaves and acorns. He moved just far enough away that he would be out of Issei’s and Takahiro’s reach, but still within sight from the farm entrance a couple dozen feet in front of them; a rather simplistic wooden gate that opened to a path leading down the mountain. As he hurried away from the older dragons, Kenma caught sight of a certain spiky-haired dragon breeder, who had just left the cave. His face was flushed a deep-red and Kenma could even spot the throbbing vein on his temple.

Kenma observed the unraveling event, half in worry, half in thinly hidden amusement. He was absolutely certain that, under any different situation, Iwaizumi would have screamed bloody murderer at the still nonsense-spouting duo by now. Dragons or not, Issei and Takahiro had been at the farm for years, even longer than Kenma, and they still remembered the time when Iwaizumi and Oikawa had been trainees tasked with the dirty work that was now part of Futakuchi’s and Terushima’s routine. With that, they weren’t just simply dragon and caretaker, but actual friends. They knew each other well and Hajime was smart enough, even if caught in rage, to know when he was treading in dangerous quarters and when it was absolutely okay for him to scream his lungs out.

With the three pitch black and barely above knee-height sized fledgelings following on his heel, watching his every motion with utmost attention, though, he wasn’t in a good position to do as he liked. So instead of raising his voice at them, he chose the next best thing.

Stepping right behind the duo, he placed a hand on each of their shoulders and grabbed them, hard. His biceps bulged, tendons strained to visibility pressed against the tanned skin, as he made sure to apply a sufficient amount of pressure that the two surprised dragons were definitely in pain.

Looking over their shoulders with short-breathed gasps at the sudden interruption, the duo quickly paled.

“Who’s a ‘farm mom’, _huh_? Did you say anything?”

Takahiro chuckled tensely, quick to reassure that “That’s not what we’re saying at all, Hajime. We’d never dare to say anything like that. It’s a misunderstanding! _Issei, help me out here_!”

But Issei did the opposite. While Takahiro was desperate to placate the hot tempered dragon breeder, Issei had taken a moment to glance behind Iwaizumi. Once he found the black- and blue-eyed fledgelings lurking behind the dragon breeder, his shoulders relaxed and colour returned to his cheeks. As well as the teasing smirk.

“Yeah, we’re totally not making fun of you. We’re just admiring your child-rearing skills.” Takahiro stared aghast at his friend, who simply nodded towards the dwarfy dragons sitting at Hajime’s feet like attentive puppies. As soon as he noticed them, Takahiro’s posture and smirk adapted to resemble Issei’s.

“Yeah, it’s totally that. We’re simply awed by your remarkable work that we can’t help but talk about it and sing you choruses of praise.”

Iwaizumi’s glare darkened momentarily before it was lifted into a bright smile. Sloppily slapping their shoulders where he had grabbed them before, Iwaizumi responded, “in that case, why don’t you make an example of my _remarkable work_ and watch them for the next couple of hours?” It wasn’t a question.

“But Hajime, you’re doing a so much better job in that than we do,” Takahiro insisted, his smirk wavering.

“Then you better use this opportunity to learn.”

“But, Hajime-” Iwaizumi didn’t even allow Issei to finish whatever argument he had come up with.

“That wasn’t a request, guys,” Hajime reinforced his words, the fury trickling from his posture as it was replaced by a solemn tension. “Tooru notified me earlier that I need to be on standby when they return around noon. Apparently the guys who had checked the market these last few days saw something resembling dragon eggs. Not that we can be certain until we see them ourselves, but if they were right, then I can’t have the triplings with me. We don’t know how protective our new arrival will be and I doubt anybody wants them to be put in harm’s way. So stay true to the obligations you accepted when you agreed to help breed them and take care of them, _within the safety of the tunnels_ , and stay out of today’s integration.”

Issei and Takahiro exchanged looks and even Kenma glanced up from where he had been crouching and doodling with his twig to stare at Iwaizumi as he explained. A new arrival was always a matter of excitement for everyone involved, but dragon eggs? Those were more than a simple matter of excitement.

Where they had been exchanging tense and teasing words a minute ago, a serious atmosphere had taken place. The triplings looked up at Iwaizumi, making confused clicking sounds as they were still unable to copy and reproduce the sounds necessary to use human language. Takahiro and Issei nodded as they agreed with Iwaizumi.

“Who’ll be acting as the ‘replacement mother’?” Issei inquired, while Takahiro stepped behind the close-by tool shed to strip out of his clothes. Dragons might not require clothes, but the caretakers at the farm had made it a habit for the residing dragons to wear clothes anyway to be used to them by the time they were allowed to visit the town. Although that form didn’t leave them more vulnerable, as their scales were still there to protect them, even as they weren’t visible.

Most of the farm’s means and tools were paid by the government’s funds that they received whenever they took in another dragon. Because clothes were unnecessary for the dragons, they had to be bought from out-of-pocket money and were thus considered valuable items to the farm.

“Kiyoko will. I actually asked her just now. She’ll step out in a bit.”

Issei hummed, agreeing with Iwaizumi’s choice. Kiyoko was reliable, calm, had her temper under control, and was nice to everyone. Yet, she was also quick to stop any unnecessary drama and troubles at their roots. She would make a wonderful mother. Issei was certain that she would have been a great replacement mother for the triplings too, but back then she hadn’t been at the farm yet. Kiyoko was their newest member, having arrived roughly a week after the triplings had hatched. As such Issei was surprised she had actually agreed to such a long-term task, although he was nonetheless glad. “Great choice. She’ll make a great mother, and her personality should make it hard for the new arrival to stay wary of her for long.”

“‘M glad you see it that way, too.” Iwaizumi had calmed down considerably once the topic turned more serious. A far more healthy colour was gracing his cheeks and he didn’t look like ‘two seconds away from a heart-attack’ anymore, either.

“So what are you going to do now? Wait up here with Kenma and Kiyoko for the threesome’s return?” Takahiro asked, passing Issei whose turn it was to change as Takahiro stomped towards them in his full baby-pink scaled almost three-floor house-sized beauty. Silvery shimmering old scars and patches without scales littered his dragon body as they had his human form, although the white-lined scars weren’t as easy to notice on the pale skin as they were on his scales.

Almost everyone in their flock had some sort of backstory, but Takahiro and Issei were the only ones who always came up with new background stories for theirs. Kenma was certain that probably nobody, aside from maybe Iwaizumi and Oikawa knew the real reason behind those marks. But considering their laid-back attitude concerning everything and their lack of non-mock-dramas, Kenma doubted they were still bound to their past. Instead, they had found enjoyment in putting up and nurturing the mystery of their unknown history.

“Don’t call them that. You know that they don’t like that,” Hajime reprimanded, but there was no harshness in his words and he was even grinning at the nickname. Everyone who bothered to pay attention to them knew that Oikawa, Koutarou and Tetsurou had a _thing_ going on. Although, they weren’t really at the point to admit it, yet.

Hajime’s grin faltered as he took in the sight of the borrowed clothes that Takahiro held in his mouth, coating them in saliva. “Really now? Couldn’t you just hold them with your claws?”

“But Hajime, you always complain when they get dirty. Or rip. Or stained with fluids. And walking on three legs is hard,” Takahiro whined mockingly, the dragon equivalent of a smirk tugging on his flews.

“I can’t believe you. Do you know how hard it is to get that _stuff_ out of them? It’s even worse than grape juices or raspberry stains. It will take me _hours_ to wash them clean! And if you think Tooru will help me, then you’re dead wrong. And the other two have their own duties to fulfil, too. As if I’m not busy enough as is, do you have any idea of how _-_ ” Hajime complained until he noticed Issei turning towards them. “ _You can’t be serious!_ ” His jaw dropped. Issei, in his black-scaled, scar-covered, monstrous size, even bigger than Takahiro, stepped out from behind the tool shed. With every piece of clothes he had been wearing tugged over one of the thorns lining his tail. The red fabriques of his underwear was pierced by his tail’s tip and he held it up into the air like a flag.

“What? You said we should take better care of them. We should treasure them. I’m treasuring them. And their all clean.”    Takahiro snorted loudly, before he broke into a breathless, howling fit of laughter.

Hajime, meanwhile, was absolutely speechless. He stared at the red flag like he was seeing a ghost. Of course ghosts weren’t real. But dragons were. Gigantic, ridiculous dragons with nothing better to do than drive their caretakers insane. Hajime heaved a loud sigh and covered his face with his palms. “You idiots are gonna drive me crazy.”

“Nah nah, Hajime. No swearing before the kids.” Deadpanning at the duo, Hajime resigned himself to his fate and plugged the clothes from between Takahiro’s teeth and Issei’s tail. Then, he told Akira, Yuutarou, and Tobio to go with the duo back into the cave. It took a bit of cooing and prompting from them, as well as Takahiro having to pick one of them up by the skin folds in their neck to actually make them leave Hajime’s side. Eventually, though, all five dragons disappeared into the darkness of the tunnels and Hajime went to return the clothes to the landry area of their house, a simple two-floor building hidden by the woods where the caretakers lived in, right next to the larger tool shed. It was the only building the dragons weren’t allowed to enter, even if they were accompanied by one of their caretakers. Only those with a dragon rider were allowed to do that, under the restriction that it was solely to find a suitable saddle.

Left on his own, Kenma dedicated himself to his drabbles again. Yet, he kept his ears perked, his eyes glancing at the gate from time to time. Tetsurou and the others would need longer to return when they brought not only a new adult-dragon, but also new eggs with them. There was also the chance that the new arrival would initially go with them just fine, but become anxious as they closed in on the cave entrance; the various smells of the dozens of dragons permeating from there would pull at their instincts, telling them to flee and protect the precious eggs. It might get quite dangerous pretty soon. Kenma better stayed on alert till the new addition settled in.

As he drew a cat with bat wings into the earth, Kenma wondered how the new arrivals would change their life on the ranch this time.

 

* * *

 

It was way past noon when Kiyoko spotted the first signs of movement from the entrance, one of her hands held above her eyes to shield them from the blinding light of the setting sun.

“They’re here.”

“Finally! Was about damn time. Next time he better sends another message saying they’ll be late. I’ve got other things to do than stand by and wait for his lazy ass to return.” Hajime always complained like this when it came to Tooru. Apparently, it had something to do with knowing each other since earliest childhood, although, Kenma didn’t know much about that. He did know, though, that there was no actual heat behind his words. Even if Tooru had notified them of the delay, he would have waited with them anyway as his quietly brooding worry would distract him too much from getting actual work done.

Ignoring the breeder cursing under his breath, Kenma zoomed in on the appearing figures.

The first thing that he recognized was the unruly mop on top of Tetsurou’s head that he called hair. Kenma quickly wondered why the other dragon was in human form when it was far faster to travel as a dragon where he could carry the others on his back. Even if he wasn’t flying, that form still gave him major advantages in regards to speed and stride length.

Keeping the thought in the back of his mind for later, Kenma moved his gaze towards the two humans in the group. They were slightly smaller than Tetsurou was, but Koutarou with his black-white striped, gravity-defying hair and Tooru with his brown, in-the-wind swaying curls were nonetheless stunning to watch as the sunlight reflected from their heads.

Kenma had to wait a bit before more than just their heads and shoulders were visible from the distance and temporarily got distracted by the bright orange of the sun behind Koutarou that seemed to dance with the wind. As that was impossible though, he moved his gaze to Tetsurou, and his previous wonder was quickly forgotten as he saw a brown wild-leather bag with curvy sides in Tetsurou’s arms, the tips of two light-coloured objects poking out from the top. The dragon eggs Hajime had mentioned before.

But where was the other dragon?

Kenma squinted against the sunlight and let his gaze drop lower. Maybe it wasn’t an adult dragon after all and they had been wrongly informed?

No, there was no knee-tall baby dragon waddling between their legs. Not even a hip-sized one.

As he let his gaze fall lower, Kenma noticed something else. Unless Koutarou had grown another pair of legs, there was someone else walking closely behind him. Now that he had noticed them, Kenma also recognised the wrinkles and tightenings in Koutarou’s plaid button-up, indicating that it was pulled, or at least something held it tightly, from behind.

Just as he came to that conclusion, Koutarou looked over his shoulder. Kenma didn’t hear whether there was an exchange of words or not, but right after, Koutarou stopped walking. He was soon followed by Tetsurou and Tooru who looked at the one walking behind Koutarou. The swaying sun behind Koutarou moved from left to right and back. Suddenly, Kenma understood. What he had thought was the afternoon sun was actually hair. Whoever the new dragon was, Kenma had not once seen someone with sun-coloured hair before.

Tooru and Tetsurou exchanged some looks, then Tetsurou crouched down, careful not to shake the eggs too much, and looked up, probably to look their newcomer into the eyes without appearing intimidating. Another dragon afraid of humans then? “...’rnt dan...ous. No nee… ‘fraid.” The distance and the wind made it hard to understand them properly, but Tetsurou’s voice was soft, almost kind even. He doesn’t using that kind of voice often,  only with the the twins or the triplings as far as Kenma could recall. So maybe it was indeed a younger dragon?

Kenma’s stomach cramped up. He didn’t like that thought. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Tetsurou with handling that matter. And it wasn’t like Kenma _liked_ dealing with children that much either. But it was still part of his duty to deal with their younger congeners. He was accustomed to dealing with them. Tetsurou wasn’t. That was the only reason why Kenma felt uncomfortable watching them interact.

Still caught in his thoughts, Kenma almost missed Tooru beckoning them over. Hajime noticed his absent-mindedness and placed a hand on Kenma’s shoulder, squeezing it lightly, encouragingly. “Just do what you always do. Then everything should turn out well,” Hajime whispered to him. Kenma nodded shortly, thankful for his words, yet unable to tear his gaze away from the pair of shorter, thinner legs shake behind Koutarou. Of course they were scared. Probably even terrified. Understandably. Who knows how they had been treated until now or what things they had seen? Kenma took comfort in the knowledge that those times were over now. They only had to make them realise it a well.

The three of them walked over to Tooru who met them a couple of feet away from his companions to give them a quick, whispered explanation of what was going on. “His name is Hinata. Or at least that’s what the traders called him. He reacts to it when we use it, but it’s unknown to us whether that’s his real name or not. We aren’t sure yet whether it’s the stress of everything or a lasting condition, but while he seems to be able to understand us, he can’t respond.”

“You mean, he’s mute?” Hajime inquired. The three of them frowned when Tooru nodded. “Was it the traders fault?”

“Don’t think so. They were the kind of traders that buy dragons from other markets and then bring them to places where they know the dragons would receive help. Basically, they reported themselves. His issue must have a different origin. Probably birth related. He has troubles producing sounds as well.”

“They should have brought him to us right away themselves, instead of reporting to the market admins first. What a waste of time,” Hajime bit out through his teeth as he clenched his fists.

Tooru looked at him with empathy. “You know they can’t do that. The other traders would notice a missing dragon and talk about it. Their reputation would be ruined. Nobody would do business with them anymore. And then they wouldn’t be able to help us anymore.” Hajime clicked his tongue and avoided Tooru’s gaze. He was still clearly upset with the situation, but at least the tension left his fists. Good. They wouldn’t be able to make Hinata start trusting them if he got the impression their breeder had temper issues.

“Do you know how old he is?” Kenma inquired, his gaze on the tufts of orange hair peeking out from behind Koutarou. Now that he had a closer look at it, it looked much more like hair than sunbeams, very soft and clean.

“If we understood his signs and drawings right, then he’s only a bit younger than you.” Kenma blinked. That couldn’t possibly be right.

“But he’s so small.”

“Well, Kenma-chan, you aren’t the tallest either.” Kenma met Tooru’s wink with a blank stare.

“I’m taller in my actual form,” he muttered under his breath.

“Who says it isn’t the same for Chibi-chan over there?” Tooru responded, pointing to the orange-haired boy with his thumb over his shoulder. Kenma didn’t respond to that. Of course Tooru could be right about that, but something told him that wasn't the case here. Call it instinct if you want.

“What about the eggs?” Hajime cut in on their exchange, switching to the topic of higher importance.

“Two eggs. One with orange markings and another one with yellow and light blue stripes. We can’t say for sure whether they’re biological siblings of Chibi-chan, but we do know that he’s protective over both of them just the same. From the size of the eggs, they can’t have been with the traders for long. Luckily.”

“How did he react to your interference?” Kiyoko spoke up, her gaze moving back and forth from the newcomer and the eggs as she mustered them, sizing them up and analysing how she should act in this situation. If the orange boy was prone to aggressive behaviour when separated from the eggs, then that made her job far more difficult. Naturally, they could just let the new boy hatch them on his own, but if they left him to do as he pleased by himself on this matter, then he might end up isolating himself and the hatchlings from the rest of the ranch, which could become dangerous for all of them. Giving the eggs into Kiyoko’s care might be dangerous now, but it wasn’t like they were taking the eggs away from him. He would be able to see them whenever he wanted to, could even help in hatching them. More than anything, this would help him build up some trust towards Kiyoko and Hajime, as both would look after the hatchlings. However, since Hinata was scared of humans, it was the most important for him to built up trust towards the other dragons first, who could then show him that the humans on the farm were no threat to him or the eggs.

“Well, he was rather scared at first. Stayed away from us, but never left us out of his sight. When we touched the eggs, he showed some signs of aggressiveness. He tried to bite Kou-chan’s hand off, but Tetsu-chan interfered on time. Chibi-chan was quick to pull back then. He has respect towards Tetsu-chan as he’s the older and stronger dragon and after giving him some space and time to observe, as well as some coaxing, he started to relax around them. He allowed them to come closer and must have noticed Kou-chan’s scent, because not long after, he even allowed Kou-chan to touch him.” Koutarou was Tetsurou’s official Rider. The two of them weren’t bonded yet, not in the traditional sense, but they were together often enough that Tetsurou’s scent bled into Koutarou’s. That, together with Koutarou’s unusual upbringing and his cheerful, bright personality, explained a lot about the current situation. Koutarou was strong and his confidence promising protection. With Tetsurou by his side, they were a combination people wouldn’t usually try to go up against.

“What about you?” Hajime asked, staring at Tooru. “He seems to allow you to be close by, but Koutarou still has to stay between you and the eggs. You didn’t even try to talk to him earlier, leaving it to Tetsurou, instead. Why? Cat got your silver tongue?”

“Haha, very funny Iwa-chan. I’m laughing tears.” He didn’t. “No. He saw me discussing matters with the traders. Seems like I was a bit too nice with them. Now, Chibi-chan thinks I’m friends with those kinda people and doesn’t really trust me.”

“Did you at least find out something?”

Tooru sighed. “Nothing we didn’t already know before.”

“You endangered your chance on gaining the dragon’s trust and didn’t even gain useful information from that? You’re an idiot.”

“Mean, Iwa-chan,” Tooru responded half-heartedly, a pout pulling the corners of his mouth down. 

“So? What should we do know?” Kiyoko asked, leading the conversation back to its actual subject. 

“You and Kenma will introduce yourselves to him. Make sure he can see your face as you talk. He’ll read your expression. Or at least he’ll try to. He can hear you, but he doesn’t know difficult terms. Seems like his family didn’t teach him a lot of human language. Only the basics. Whether that’s because of his condition or whether they’re simply preferring to avoid contact isn’t known. Iwa-chan and I will wait aside. He should know we exist, but it’s best not to force our presence onto him while he’s still taking everything in. 

“Once the introductions are done, we will show him the den Kiyoko will share with the eggs. Tell him he can choose to stay in the empty den next to her’s. Explain her role in this matter, but make sure to emphasize he can take part in everything, too. Show him your den as well, Kenma. It would be good if he knows the way to at least one other den, aside from his and Kiyoko’s.” Both of the dragons nodded to signal their understanding. It was the usual routine for Kenma, but for Kiyoko, it was the first time. Kenma would be worried if he wasn’t sure that Kiyoko was more than capable of dealing with this. She was one of those dragons that had lived in a human village for many years before her cover was blown and the people turned against her in fear, forcing her to leave. They didn’t use violence, though, and Kiyoko didn’t hold a grudge against them, either. When she heard about their farm, she joined them voluntarily because it allowed her to help others with worse experiences than her and reconnect them with humanity.

Having received their ‘orders’, Kiyoko and Kenma separated from their little group and moved towards Koutarou, who was currently telling Shouyou about the large amount of food he’d be served every morning. Of course he didn’t mention, yet, that most of those rations were from the neighbouring farms, a deal that was done when the ranch was first established to secure peace between the farms and the ranch. They would offer them a part of their livestock and harvests, and in return, the dragons wouldn’t hunt from them, but would rather keep other predators away. Everything else they needed had to be hunted on their own in the mountains and lakes.

Either the new arrival was very hungry or he simply really loved food, but the aspect of food seemed to distract him from his previous fear. He didn’t even flinch when Tetsurou announced their arrival, “Ah, those are the two we had been talking about before,” and his head whipped around to them at the speed of lightning. When his legs had been shaking minutes before, his whole body was now positively vibrating. His hands were clenched to fists before his chest, but his eyes were opened widely with a vibrant shine sparkling in the light brown orbs. His cheeks were flushed a bright red. Saliva trickled from the corner of his mouth.

Kenma stopped walking and stared. That kid didn’t look like he had just been saved from the black market.

“Hinata, that’s Kenma and Kiyoko!” Koutarou introduced them, a small echo followed his booming voice. “They’ll be the ones to show you around!”

Kenma couldn’t look away from the other dragon, felt trapped in his gaze. Not once in his life had he felt so much radiant energy as the other was emitting with a simple glance of his eyes.

“Hello Hinata. I’m Kiyoko. If it’s okay with you, I’d like to help you hatch the eggs.” Hinata’s gaze shifted to Kiyoko and Kenma could breathe again. He wasn’t aware he had stopped. His heart beat so loudly in his ears, it was hard to hear Kiyoko’s next words. “Would it be okay if I were to take a look at them?” 

The previous excitement that had made him vibrate was gone. His fists fell to his side and he stood as straight as a candle as he stared at Kiyoko with an intensity that gave even Kenma goosebumps. Fortunately, whatever Kiyoko felt, she didn’t show it. Her posture stayed calm, her shoulders relaxed, her hands and legs didn’t tremble and, most importantly, she didn’t growl or bare her teeth. She simply accepted his examination and kept their gazes locked, not once shying away from it.

Maybe Hinata wasn’t as young as Kenma had initially assumed. Someone who had only shortly learnt how to shift forms would never stare another adult down with such an unwavering gaze. 

Kenma saw in his peripheral Tetsurou and Koutarou exchange looks. If things continued like this, they’d have to get involved. The risk of the situation escalating or the eggs growing too cold would become realer the longer it continued. Dragon eggs, not dissimilar to bird eggs, needed a certain temperature to sustain the life growing within their shell. Although a dragon in human form still had a higher body temperature than an actual human, it wouldn’t be enough to preserve their lives forever.

Luckily, their involvement was unnecessary.   


As sudden as their staring had started, it was over. A smile as bright as the sun itself spread across Hinata’s face and he grabbed Kiyoko’s hand to pull her towards Tetsurou. They barely avoided colliding into him, but Koutarou had pulled him aside just in time to save him from crashing to the ground with his valuable load. 

“Careful, Hinata!” Once again, Hinata’s posture was quick to change. One moment he had been overflowing with happiness and in the next he was as stiff as a stock, bowing repetitively. Even his face screamed ‘I’m sorry!’. Kenma wondered how he could be so expressive. He wouldn’t call the dragons he knew unemotional, but none of them had been so open and  _ extreme _ . 

“It’s okay, I understand, it wasn’t intentional. You don’t have to apologise so much,” Tetsurou hurried to insist. Emphasizing Tetsurou’s words, Koutarou patted Hinata’s back, almost bowling him over, and said “‘s fine, ‘s fine” to the beat of his slaps. When Hinata had calmed down, he once again urged Kiyoko to have a look at the eggs, although with much less excessive energy this time. 

Kenma watched everything from where he had first stopped walking. He noticed his tendency of quickly shifting moods, but so far he had shown no sign of aggression. Rather than that, he seemed to be excited to be here. His wariness of humans might be from his lack of spending time with them, not just from his latest unfortunate encounter with traders. But if he was as quick to forget and forgive as he was to change moods, then that problem would solve itself.

Now Kenma only had to see how he would react to a cave filled with as many dragons as theirs was.

“Hinata.” Hinata moved his gaze from Kiyoko who was holding the yellow-blue egg and examined it’s every nook and cranny, to rest his intense stare once again on Kenma. “How about I show you the tunnels now? You don’t have to stay in your human form down there, and I can show you your new den. If you want to.” Kenma didn’t like the smile he received for his offering. It was too bright, too wide, too sparkly. He wasn’t used to that kind of reaction to something he had said. It made his heart beat faster, and his chest tighten strangely. 

Kenma was certain their new arrival would change their lives a lot. 

What he wasn’t sure about, yet, was whether he would like those changes.

 

* * *

 

It’s been a week since Hinata’s arrival to the farm. Just like Kenma had expected, their lives had taken a drastic shift. His and Kiyoko’s at least. What he couldn’t have expected were the kind of changes that had happened. 

The first that had changed for Kenma were his daily tasks. Since Hinata couldn’t talk, he needed a way to communicate. While he was very expressive in nature, there were things he was unable to express without elaborately explaining them with his hands and feed. As this could be dangerous if emergencies, they needed an alternate way and the task of teaching Hinata how to do that was Kenma’s now.

He had first thought about using signs to use with his hands, as those were the easiest to form ‘words’ with. One sign, one meaning. Unfortunately that meant finding one sign for each word. He had to find a way to differentiate ‘orange’ from ‘apple’ and ‘melon’ and once he did that, he had to teach them to everyone else as well. What use was it to teach Hinata a way to communicate through his hands if nobody else understood him? 

So Kenma decided to teach him something else. Hinata would learn how to write. 

Kenma himself had learnt it, because he was born into a flock with a strong interest in human culture and therefore was taught from an early age in their spoken and written language. Not everyone in their flock had the ability to read those sigils, but it was known by their caretakers and could be used in their dragon form, as well. For the rest, he had to find a different way, but they had time. First, Kenma had to make sure Hinata had a way to communicate with at least one other person.

Knowing Hinata’s emotions were easily influenced, Kenma was worried he wouldn’t be able to concentrate on their lessons, forcing Kenma to run after him half the day to prevent him from causing trouble. However, Hinata had once again surprised him. Sure, his emotions were mercurial, and he had trouble memorizing all the symbols at once, but he listened carefully to what Kenma said. When he understood what Kenma wanted from him, he did so without arguing about it. 

Even if those were tasks unrelated to their lessons. Like, being in charge of the laundry or bathing the fledglings. Kenma came to know Hinata as friendly, obliging, and very talented in handling their younger generation. Maybe because he was so similar to them, so full of energy and joyful, so full of life, restricted in his ways to communicate. Whatever it was, it made Kenma’s life a lot easier. If Hinata playing with Lev and Kanji in a lake close to the farm made Kenma smile, then it was his own personal matter, regardless of what Tetsurou and the others thought about that.

Kenma and the fledglings friendly relationship with Hinata brought another change to his accustomed life. His den got another dragon to inhibit, counting now three adult dragons and two fledglings. Apparently Hinata was trusting Kiyoko enough to handle the eggs on her own overnight. Although that was only what Hinata had told Kenma. The truth might have been a bit different. Kenma had heard from Tooru who had heard it from Hajime who had heard it from Kiyoko that it was actually because Hinata was scared of sleeping on his own, and therefore had moved in with Kiyoko, However, because he moved around quite a lot in his sleep, Hinata had almost crushed one of the eggs, which was why she banned him from sleeping in her den again. 

Kenma wondered if there was a curse for attracting energetic dragons put on him or something. Fortunately, Hinata wasn’t very large. By no means could Hinata in his full-sized, orange-scaled beauty be called a fledgling or juvenile, but he wasn’t as tall as Tetsurou or the other two devils were. 

Their new roommate made the den feel narrower, but it still had some space left before it could be considered cramped. Although that was only under the requirement that the fledglings stopped growing. A hope impossible to hold onto as they grew like weed. One day one of them, preferably two or even three, had to leave the den and choose one on their own. 

But before that would happen, Kenma had  to spend even more nights framed by an orange and a black dragon and two smaller ones laying sprawled over his legs or curled underneath his wings. Nights that were always ending far too quick, as one of the three energetic bundles always awakened far too soon, and consequently infected the other two. When it had been difficult for Kenma to ignore two squealing fledglings climbing all over him, it was an impossible feat to ignore two squealing fledglings and an adult dragon who kept poking and shoving him. 

Unfortunately, Kenma had a soft heart; otherwise, he would never give in to their endless begging and shiny eyes. How could someone without the ability to talk be so persuasive? Kenma would never understand.

However that was possible though, almost a week after Hinata’s arrival, Kenma found himself sitting on the hard earth before their cave entrance, far too early for Kenma’s liking, and explaining  to Hinata how to draw ‘yo’. Watching Hinata practise draw the characters into the earth with the same stick Kenma used to doodle cats on the ground, Kenma explained that if an ‘u’ was added at the end, one would get a ‘you’. Hinata halted momentarily in his writing and glanced at Kenma, before writing down ‘you’. “Yes, just like this. That is ‘you’. An ‘u’ after a short ‘yo’ makes it a long ‘you’.” 

Hinata blinked and tilted his head as he stared at the ground. Kenma wondered what he was thinking about, but Hinata was back in the present before Kenma could decide whether he should ask him or not. Writing down ‘shou’, Hinata looked at Kenma, waiting to be praised or corrected. “That’s right. The ‘u’ turns the short ‘sho’ into a long ‘shou’. Well done, Hinata.” 

Hinata smiled, like he always did when Kenma praised him, and went right back to writing. Kenma had assumed he was simply practising the newly learnt form, but instead he looked back at Kenma with that expression of expecting a reaction after having written only a couple of symbols. Kenma read out loud. “Shou .. you?” Hinata nodded his head, a smile stretching across his face and wrote it again. And again. And again. Always the same four, in the same order, closely together before writing them down again with a bit space left between them. “Shouyou?” Hinata nodded again. “What does that mean?” Hinata pointed to himself with his index finger. Kenma blinked, slowly. He had an idea what Hinata meant, but he wanted to confirm it first. “You?” Hinata nodded again and wrote the same sequence down again, before pointing at himself. “Shouyou… you … You’re Shouyou? Is that your name? The one your family gave you?” Hinata, or Shouyou, as was his real name, was nodding so hard Kenma was fearing he’d get whiplash. However, Shouyou was smiling as brightly as Kenma hadn’t seen him once in the week he had spent with them now, his eyes as bright as a thousand suns. Kenma found himself smiling with him. 

“That’s great! We should tell Tooru and ask him for the kanji for your name,” Kenma proposed, but Shouyou shook his head, his smile not once leaving his face. “But why? Don’t you want everyone to know who you are?” However, Shouyou shook his head again and wrote down ‘Only Kenma’. Suddenly, it was heard to breathe through the lump forming in his throat. “Only me, huh…uhm, well...” 

Kenma was speechless.

How did this person, this dragon, manage to overturn his life by 180° day by day by day?

How did he make his heart race like he had just flown across the whole country and back within a single hour?

How was it possible that Shouyou brought all these unwelcoming changes, like getting up early or participating in daily excursions with the fledglings, into Kenma’s life?

And how was it possible for Shouyou to do all this, but a single smile of his was enough for Kenma to forget all about the negative aspects in his life, to the point that he thought ‘ _ maybe changes aren’t always that bad _ ’?

Kenma didn’t know. He had an inkling what was going on, but he definitely wasn’t certain. Even without knowing, for the first time, without any but’s and restrictions, Kenma could honestly say:

“Nice to meet you, Shouyou.” 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I've planned more for this universe, although it might take a bit for me to upload it as I'm busier than expected this year.  
> Still, almost every chapter to be updated will be tight in the same universe, but the timeline might be a bit messy and it's not always Kenma's POV.
> 
> If you have any questions for this, plot-wise or character-wise, don't hesitate to ask! I'll share everything that's not absolutely necessary for the next plot points.
> 
> btw, the name thing:  
> \- Dragons only have first names and therefore call each other and humans by their first names  
> \- Humans use japanese language and have a family name, as well as a given name  
> \- Bokuto's and Kuroo's names aren't messed up, they're like this for a reason that will be explained at some point. For now let's just say their cases are very unique ;)


End file.
